Combined ledger tray and holder for business forms



Aug- 14, 1 D; D. BIBLER COMBINED LEDGER TRAY AND HOLDER FOR BUSINESS FORMS Filed Nov. 9, 1948 INVENTOR. DALLAS D. BIBLER BY 1 I mzw? Patented Aug. 14, T951 CQIVIEHYIEP. LEDGER TRAY-AND HOLDER .mglgpgmss Dallas D, Bibler, W yandotte, -Mich., assigns; to

Application Novernb 4 isl m,

My invention relates generally to a combined ledger tray and holder and it has to do. more particularly with a device of this character adapted for holding forms for various kinds of business machines and the like.

One of the objects of my invention is to proe vide an improved holder for business forms which is of simple and inexpensive construction.

A further object is toprovide a businessforni holder that may be carried conveniently. by busie ness machine salesmen and'be used as a posting tray during demonstration of the operation of business machines.

An additional object is to. provide a comparatively light Weight and compact posting tray. adapted to support a particular business form or pack of such forms during posting operations.

Another and more specific object is to provide a device of the foregoing character that is adapted to serve as a storage holderv for busi-- ness forms when the forms are not in use and to hold the same forms at the proper angle and position for convenience to the. operator when the forms are used during posting, and the like, operations.

Other objects and advantages of my inven-.

tion will appear from the following description:

taken in conjunction with the appended drawings wherein:

Figure 1 is a rear perspective view of a holder in closed condition embodying my. invention and holding business forms in storage;

Fig. 2 is a front elevational view of the. holder shown in Figure 1., and

Fig. 3 is a perspective view ofmy holder illuse. trailing its use as a posting tray and "showing business forms supported thereon preparatory. for posting operations.

Posting trays are well-known office. devices used for supporting business forms such as ledger sheets, statement sheets, etc, in convenient re; lation to a business machine operator. trays usually have been constructed of Wood or. metal and of sufiicient width to furnish adequate support for all the. business forms of various widths that it may be called, upon to support during different types of posting. BQSting operations being more or less of an inter; mittent nature, the ordinary.- posting; tray has no utility except during the actual posting c per ation and at other times is idle. Upon the com pletion of a posting operation, the business forms supported on the posting tray are removed ther from and placed in iiling cabinets or other suit-. bl i e t ea u th are. zes ir e Thei '. a Mat mm 9 I the next posting operation.

at C0 Psnya 1948, Serial No. 59,998

(01. reg ae) It will be noted that one of the objects of my invention is to provide. a posting tray that has utility as a holder to store. the business forms while they are not in use during a posting operation and thus, it serves a two-fold purpose and has utility at all times which fact is not true for the ordinary posting tray.

Many small businesses find it economical to have their book worlsi done. by firms specializing in such work and at some location other than where the particular small business concern is located. This necessitates the movingof the business forms in suitable containers. from the owners place of business to the place of business of the. firm doing the book Work."- To this end, my holder is particularly well suited in that it always accompanies the particular group of business forms with which it is associated either as a posting tray oras a storage holder for the forms.

My-business for-m holder is generally of a boxlike construction embodying two sections, one ofwhich is telescopically receivable. in the other to form a closed receptacle. Registering and Y generally V-shaped openings are provided on mensurate with the width of the business forms to provide a posting traysupport for the forms.

In this position of the sections of the holder, business forms are placed in'the V-like opening where theyaresuppOrted at an angledeterm'ined by the inclined sides of the V for the. convenience of the business machine operator.

Referring to the drawings, a business form holder. iii embodying-'my invention is comprised of a rectangular box-alik bottom section H havingan open upper end it: (Fig. 3') of suitable size for receiving a pack of business forms, for example ledger forms I3 Section It has itsfour sides and a bottorniormed of cardboard or other suitable light-weight material having sufficient rigidity, to provide a long life and to withstand the usage usually given such pieces of ofiice equip-. ment. l'he sides andbottomof section 5-! may be securely fastened together by any suitable means, however, I prefer to use strips of gummed- 19th ar iifwhiqi e erle tan i s a d the bottom and securely hold the portions of bottom section II together to provide an integral unit. The inside longitudinal dimension of section ll preferably is slightly greater than the height of the business forms to be received in this section of the holder and its inside, transverse dimension is made approximately equivalent to the thickness of the pack of formsto be held. Although the inside height of section II is preferably made equivalent to the width of the forms to be supported in the holder, other business forms having the same height, length and thick ness but having a greater width than the height of section II may be conveniently stored-in the holder in fully enclosed condition so long as the width of the business form has a dimension less than twice the height of section II.

The bottom section H is cut-away on its oppositely disposed, longitudinal sides to form a central generally V-shaped opening in each of the sides, each V-shaped opening having a straight-edge bottom portion [5 spaced above and parallel with the bottom surface it of section I I Preferably, the length of edge-portion I5 is at least as great as the width of the open end !2 to rovide an edge surface sufficiently long to sup port as many businessforms as may be placed in the open end 52 or in the holder. Edges l1 and I8 forming the sides of the V-shaped opening extend from each end, respectively, of the edge I5 and in diverging relation to the open end I?! of section I -t is understood that the out-away portions provided in the oppositely disposed sides of section H are similar ir'rall respects so that corresponding edges, for example edge 18 and edge 48c (Fig. 3), lie in a plane disposed normal with-the cuta'v)'aysides.

The business form holder illustrated is further rovided with a top section 29 which is similar in all respects to thebottom section ii except for the dimension of its open end 2! which has a width and a length slightly greater than the corresponding dimensions for the bottom section H to allow the bottom section H to be telescopically received in the top section 28. Further, the cut-away portions of the oppositely disposed, longitudinal sides of section 29 are disposed so that when the two sections I! and 20 are in tele scoping relation adjoining longitudinal sides of the two sections will have their cut-away portions in registration and allow an unobstructed, centrally located View of a portion of the contents of the closed holder. Identifying marks may be applied to the business forms in alignment with the described cut-away portions of the holder to permit ready identification or selection of a desired holder and its enclosed form. For example, a plurality of such holders may contain ledger forms each of which may be numbered or lettered in some convenient fashion to designate the particular material that the individual ledger concerns. Simply by observing the marking on the ledger which clearly may be observed in the opening provided by the registering V-lik openings, it is possible to select the desired holder from a group of holders.

The cut-away portions of section 29 each have an edge-portion 22 (Fig. 3) corresponding to the edge-portion E5 of section II. Edge-portion 22 is spaced from the closed end 23 a distance equal to the spacing of edge from the bottom surface is so that when the two sections have their respective closed ends, it and Z3, resting upon a plane surface, the edge-portions I5 and 22 will be similarly spaced above the plane surface.

Further, when the longitudinal sides of section I l are disposed parallel with the longitudinal sides of section 20, the corresponding edges of the cutaway portions of both sections II and 20 may be arranged to lie in a common plane disposed normal to the longitudinal sides. This arrangement is illustrated in Fig. 3 wherein my holder takes the form of a posting tray.

Posting operations involving the posting of amounts to a ledger sheet or from a ledger sheet to a statement are more conveniently handled by using a posting tray. My business form holder provides such a tray. When it has been determined which group of ledger-s are required for the posting operation, the particular holder [0 containing the desired group of ledgers is removed from its place of storage and the telescoping sections of the holder are separated and placed with their closed bottom portions resting on a table or other flat surface convenient to the business machine operator. The two "sections then are spaced apart on the table surfacea sufficient distance so that when the ledger sheets are removed from the container and are inserted in the V-like opening in each section of the holder they will rest on the edges i5 of the section II and on the edges 22 of the section'ZD; It never becomes necessary to space the two sections apart a distance greater than the width of the business form being supported. Therefore; the ledger tray provided by my holder ii! requires a minimum amount of space as determined by the width of the business forms being'supported. In most previous types of ledger trays, the trays have been constructed with lengths sufficiently great to accommodate both narrow and wide business forms. The use of anarrow business form with the old type ledger tray resulted in a considerable portionof the table surface being occupied by apart of the ledger tray which served no useful purpose and prevented use of that por-' tion of the table surface for other purposes. Clearly the ledger tray of my invention may be made to occupy a minimum of space on a table surface when it supports a narrow form; and, further, it may be adjusted to support any width of form simply by spacing the two sections II and 2B the required distances apart.

The use of my holder as a ledger tray during posting operations is as follows. After placing the pack of ledger sheets or other forms in the V- like openings, the sheets are moved rearwardly to rest on the inclined edges of the V-like openings removed from the business machine operator. If it is desired to post items to the first sheet of the pack of ledger sheets, this sheet may be withdrawn from the group and placed in the business machine and the proper posting made. Upon completion of the posting operation, the ledger sheet is withdrawn from the business machine and replaced on the holder so that its bottom edge rests upon the edges l5 and 22 and the replaced sheet then is tilted forwardly to rest on the edges of the V-like openings proximate to the user. The next ledger-sheet in the pack of sheets then is automatically displayed at a convenient angle for the operator to observe or to remove the sheet from the group of ledger sheets.

A posting operation on a statement, Where the information to be posted is taken from the ledger sheet, is handled in a somewhat similar manner. During the latter operation, the ledger sheet is not removed from the group of sheets but is merely referred to for the desired information which it contains. The sheets may be lettered or otherwise identified and those sheets from which information has been obtained are merely swung forwardly to permit observation of the sheets that have not been used. At the end of the day or when the posting operations have been completed, the pack of business forms being used are replaced in the section II of the holder and this section is then telescoped into the section and the holder is replaced to its place of storage. The forms are completely enclosed and protected against damage and may be conveniently transported from place to place without loss of loose sheets or misplaced portions of the particular pack of forms involved. The storage space required for the holder is no greater than the dimensions of the holder itself as determined by the size of the particular business forms it contains and costly filing cabinets or similar storage means for business forms are eliminated.

Business machine salesmen, of necessity, must carry a supply of business forms for the purpose of demonstrating the operation of business machines. My holder provides a convenient means for carrying the necessary forms. Further, during the demonstration of a business machine, the salesman requires the use of a posting tray. In the past, it has been necessary for the salesman to carry a posting tray and a supply of business forms in a separate package to the prospects place of business. Previous types of posting trays are not only heavy but are large and cumbersome and presented a problem to the business machine salesman. When using my business form holder, the salesman carries one item, namely, the business form holder where in the past he previously carried two. The business forms being located in the holder, they are conveniently transportable from place to place and when the sections are separated a compact posting tray is provided. The holder is inexpensive and may be sold separately or otherwise provided with each pack of a particular type of form and will thereby provide a posting tray especially suited for the particular type of form with which it is furnished.

I claim:

1. A business form holder comprising a boxlike bottom section having an open top and a closed bottom, and a box-like top section having an open top and closed bottom, said bottom section being telescopicall receivable in the open top of said top section to provide an enclosed business form holder, the oppositely disposed and longitudinal side walls of each of the said sections each having a cut-away portion forming a substantially V-shaped opening therein open to the open end of each section, whereby when the closed bottoms of the said sections are disposed planar with the said longitudinal side walls in parallel alignment and with the ends of said sections in substantial alignment the said cutaway portions will be in substantial transverse alignment.

2. A combined tray and holder for business forms comprising a pair of rectangularly-shaped, box-like sections having closed bottoms and open tops portions, one constituting a bottom section and the other a cover section in which the bottom section is telescopically received, each of said sections having in each side wall thereof a similar- 1y formed central notch formed with a flat bottom wall and side walls extending from the ends of said notch bottom wall in diverging relation to the open top portion of each section, and said notches being further located similarly between the bottom and open top portions of said sections to provide parallel notch-supporting-surfaces when said sections are disposed side by side in parallel spaced relation and to provide an opening exposing the contents of the holder for identification when said sections are in telescoped relation.

3. A business form holder comprising telescopic bottom and top box-like section having an open top and a closed bottom and adapted for holding and substantially enclosing a pack of business forms when the sections are telescoped together, each of the oppositely disposed and longitudinal side wall-s of said sections having a cut-away portion forming a substantially V- shaped opening therein open to the open end of each section and adapted to receive the pack of business forms in the open position of the business form holder upon a section of the business form holder being supported on its closed bottom end.

4. A business form holder comprising telescopic bottom and top box-like sections having an open top'and a closed bottom and adapted to hold and substantially enclose a pack of business forms when the sections are telescoped together, a longitudinal side wall of said sections having a cutaway portion forming a substantially V-shaped opening therein open to the open end of each section, whereby in the telescoped position of the sections an opening is formed adaptd to expose indicia in alignment upon the pack of business forms positioned within the business form holder.

DALLAS D. BIBLER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 639,054 Jenkinson Dec. 12, 1899 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 161,855 Switzerland Aug. 1, 1933 195,082 Switzerland Mar. 16, 1938 

